RCMP commissioner urges jurisdictions to abide by end of long-gun registry

A man fires a round from a rifle at a target on the firing range in Calgary

Photograph by: Ted Rhodes/Calgary Herald
, National Post

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson has sent a letter to all chief firearms officers in the country instructing them not to create any semblance of a long-gun registry in their jurisdictions.

“The coming into force of the Ending the Long-Gun Registry Act leaves no doubt that Parliament has sought to eliminate any form of a long-gun registry,” Paulson wrote in the letter.

The letter comes a few days after Public Safety Minister Vic Toews sent a letter to Paulson saying the RCMP and the Canadian Firearms Program were to provide “no assistance or direction” to any province that may be undertaking measures to create a provincial long-gun registry.

Officials with the Chief Firearms Office of the Ontario Provincial Police have previously said the OPP would continue to maintain records of all firearms sales and who bought them.

While they have insisted this is not an attempt to create a provincial long-gun registry, some observers have complained that Ontario police are flouting the will of Parliament, and creating a new provincial gun registry "by the backdoor."

Toews said the collection of point-of-sale data is no longer authorized under the Firearms Act.

Paulson reiterated this point in his letter.

“I instruct all Chief Firearms Officers to ensure that the licensing conditions you impose on business records pursuant to the Firearms Act do not facilitate the creation of long-gun registries in your jurisdictions,” he said.